I’m posting on behalf of the CBC’s Sean Prpick. He needs your help on this story. Sean writes:
It’s a sad fact of corporate life that in these recessionary times many of us are either the recent recipients, or even the authors of all-staff goodbye e-mails. You know, the e-mails with the inevitable phrase like, “I’m leaving to pursue other challenges.” It’s an unpleasant task to either send or receive these e-mails. But is there a way to say “Adios!” to your co-workers elegantly — or at least in a non-embarrassing, non-cliché fashion?
These and other issues are surfaced in a recent Slate article, It’s Been Such a Pleasure Working With You: The strange psychology of the workplace departure e-mail by Megan Hustad.
The urge to write about how stupid your boss is, or how you’ll never get over the trauma of losing your beloved job might just be too much for you and…you might slip into writing an especially unfortunate all-staff farewell that will haunt you for a long time to come.
In any case, we have some questions for you:
Do you know of any spectacularly bad examples of farewell all-staff messages?
How about especially good ones that left you dabbing at your eyes and stifling a sob?
And have you ever written an especially bland, safe farewell e-mail when you wished you said something a lot spicier?
Here’s your chance! Share it with Spark and we’ll share it with others in an upcoming episode of the show. Leave a comment below, or send us an email.
photo by steve p2008
Everyone loves cake!
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/15/resignation-…
Wow, looks like he was really happy to resign!
I've always liked B.C.-raised Stewart Butterfield's resignation letter from Yahoo!:
http://gawker.com/5017424/stewart-butterfields-bi…
But I'd like to insert a pet peeve you could perhaps mention on the show. Too often, company emails go out with a cryptic and infuriating subject line — a person's name alone. Like this:
From: The Boss
Subject: Tina Smith
Seeing the subject line alone provides almost no information, and can cause enormous dread. Has Tina been fired? Has she quit? Is she sick today? Is she going to be late? Did she die in a car crash? Is she changing desks? Did she get promoted? Or did she just leave her lunch in the fridge?
So, a plea: if you're writing an email about someone, make the subject line a proper summary of the message. ("Tina Smith's lunch still in fridge.")
Thank you.
I completely agree with you on this one. I consider this inappropriate behavior on the part of supervisors, or anyone with the power to make decisions that effect lives of employees. "Cut the ________, and get it out in the open." is my response to such communication.
In some instances, this is the basis of a wrongful termination or discrimination lawsuit (on in extreme cases sexual harassment lawsuits). This depends on the content of the message, and the laws of your province/state, county or municipality.
Even if the communication is legal, this type is certainly unethical.
Argh! Derek, the vague/nonexistent email subject header is a total pet peeve of mine! And the endless re: re: re: re: exchanged with no subject header. Don't get me started!
On September 2005, there was an incident involving one of Microsoft's top engineers after moving to Google. The link below shows what happened when Steve Ballmer got word of the departure.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/05/chair_chu…
Could it get any worse? We in the Linux community never let up on that incident.
It all comes right down to the time honoured golden rule: Treat others with the same respect that you would want others to treat you.
When you have a supervisor that acts like a _________ towards their subordinates, it is only natural that we show him/her the same respect. However, that type of "eye-for-an-eye" philosophy could come back to haunt you when it comes time for the interview for your next job.
The best way to handle that type of situation is to be diplomatic, rather than harsh. The effort will pay off in the long run, and you will not have anything ugly to deal with later.
Re: As an habitual, non-complacent employee I always send out the same simple email with the words from The Watchmen (Winnipeg band): "My life is a stereo, how loud does it go…". Rarely do I keep in touch with past co-workers; whether I left or they left. To me, the emails most always sound the same but I have been privy to some scathing emails but for the most part they tend to be predictable and boring. When your email does not go out to the group then you know you are really fired. If you lost your internet connection then look over your shoulder 'cause they are coming to unceremoniously escort you out the door. That's my pet peeve! Ya, I'm going to ran-sack the place before I go.
There was a great site, F**Kedcompany.com, that posted emails from employees/employers and it was during the Dot Com Bust and in my cubicle I would print (a rarity even to this day) out some and post them up on my wall and the owner of the company came by one day and asked why I did that – I said motivation as I have a great job (tongue-in-cheek). 3 months later they didn't pay us.
I don't think there is ever a good way to announce a resignation/firing via email. Leaving a job can be one of the most traumatic events in somebody's life, so I don't think email really does it. There are just too many ways to misinterpret things. At our office communication of departures is always done on an one-on-one, or meeting environment where people can talk about it.
I am sure that there will be a lot of sad stories of this going on at CBC this month. I am sorry for all that is going on there this week. I hope your show is safe Nora. We would miss you!